Arrival and Departure experience at Malaga airport

NoodleDoodleMan

With TUI on 26th April, landed AGP late morning - there was a relatively long queue heading for EES passport registration. Mrs.NDM done and dusted within about 10 minutes……..punters were completing the process smoothly due to the number of operational scanning machines ….40 + being reported.

Her Ladyship then negotiated passport control fairly quickly to join me in baggage collection - I now have an Irish passport and went through the EU lane with minimal delay.

Quite a contrast to our previous experiences in the last couple of years.

Difficult to assess if this marks the end of long incoming queues as there are variable factors in play. We may have been lucky to arrive at a relatively quiet time ?

Departure a week later was another positive experience - TUI had us at the airport about a half hour earlier than last visit (Oct.2025) and there was hardly any queuing at the five designated check in desks which we negotiated within 5 minutes. Security was fairly speedy - and the line at passport check was much less that we had previously encountered - HL was through as quickly as me to go airside !!!

One interesting observation - I asked the passport control officer (Policia Nacional) if my wife could accompany me through the EU passport lane and he replied yes. That is how it should work in theory - however anecdotal reports indicate that this is not observed in some airports.

We were warned by TUI staff not to visit Duty Free immediately after security and to go straight to passport checks - something we had learned the hard way back in 2024 !!!

There is ample DF once airside.

It would be interesting to hear other variations of Spanish airport arrivals/departures……I suspect there is no one size fits all scenario.

eskbanker

…Mrs.NDM…

NDW presumably? 😉

NoodleDoodleMan

Indeed - the feminine of the species !!!

Well spotted.😁

la531983

Lol if I had a EU passport, my wife didnt, and I said I was using a different queue, I wouldnt be spoken to for the first two days of the holiday 🤣

unforeseen

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81986959#Comment_81986959

Bonus 😂😂 😂

la531983

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987045#Comment_81987045

Ha. Seriously though im not really sure what the point of using seperate queues is if you have to wait for each other anyway. Bags will be there when you both get through.

I suppose using an Irish passport on the machines might be problematic.

NoodleDoodleMan

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987081#Comment_81987081

The point.

In theory a UK passport holder who is immediate family of an EU passport holder is entitled to accompany the latter through the EU lane, as there is an EU directive to that effect - anecdotal reports however suggest that this is operational in some airports, not in others.

Appears to be at the whim of the passport control official

I enquired of the Policia Nacional officer at Malaga as I passed through and he indicated that my wife could have come through with me.

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987107#Comment_81987107

My situation too. Does this apply if the UK holder has yet to complete their first EES registration?

By luck my next planned trips to EU are both to countries which have "postponed" rollout of the enhanced controls.

NoodleDoodleMan

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987281#Comment_81987281

I can't think that a UK passport holder can enter the Schengen Area/EU without first having registered for EES in any circumstances.

I can't be absolutely certain of this scenario to be honest - but based on my enquiry at AGP a UK passport holder who has done so will be permitted to pass through the EU lane when accompanied by his/her spouse.

Advice is to carry a copy of your civil marriage certificate - but again that may or may not be recognised by the official(s) on duty.

If our recent experience (both directions) through Malaga is about to become typical then a UK passport is not going to be the drama it has been.

However. that is a big if methinks. So many variables in play.

flaneurs_lobster

I can't think that a UK passport holder can enter the Schengen Area/EU without first having registered for EES in any circumstances.

…unless their point of entry is Greece, Italy or Portugal who have all suspended registration on EES for Brits.

Not yet up to speed on the actual mechanics here, is the same machine used for registration and for entry post-registration? Slap your passport down and the system decides if it wants your dabs and face registering or it's just going to let a registered person through?

Same machine for entry and exit?

So entry through Portugal, exit via Spain - exit machine demands that it registers you? Or does that only apply on entry?

timjim

We have been to Malaga twice recently, January and last week, each time we have tried to register the machine has scanned our passport and then told us to go directly to the e-gates without asking for our fingerprints.